© 2009 Phil Gersmehl
Michigan Geographic Alliance
New York Center for Geographic Learning
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Eight ways of thinking about locations, conditions, and connections
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The idea of location is the “entrance ticket” to a geographic inquiry.
- Where is it ?
- Why is it there ?
- Why is that important ?
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P l a c e
The conditions
“right there” at a location
Movement
The connections a location has with other places
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P l a c e
Movement
How the brain organizes information about locations, their conditions, and connections.
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Spatial
Comparison comparing this place to another one
I already know
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Spatial
Comparison
Are places the same or different?
Does one place have more or less than another place?
What places are higher
(mountainous), larger, wetter, drier, nicer, colder, safer?
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Comparison
How are places similar or different?
Which
Great Lake is home to the largest urban area?
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Which is bigger, the
Upper
Peninsula or the Lower
Peninsula?
What is another way they are different?
Which city on average is cooler – Ann
Arbor or
Marquette?
Comparison
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How are places similar or different?
Where are most of the large cities located?
Comparison
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Spatial
Aura finding places that have an influence over this place
How does this place influence other places?
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Spatial
Aura
How does a big city influence nearby places?
How does a body of water influence nearby places?
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Aura
Why are there more highways around
Detroit than Gaylord?
What kinds of businesses might grow up around a big city?
How does Lake
Michigan influence weather on the west coast of Michigan?
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Spatial
Region putting similar places together in a group
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Spatial
Region
What places are near each other and are alike in some way
(have similar conditions)?
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Region
What groups of nearby places are similar?
What geographic characteristics do each language group region have in common?
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Region
What human regions are evident?
Can you draw a mental line around a region of high land?
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Region
Do language regions coincide with country boundaries?
Paris Metro (Transit) Region
What groups of nearby places have similar characteristics or connections?
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Spatial
Transition arranging places in a sequence
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Spatial
Transition
How do conditions change as we move along a journey?
What comes earlier, and what comes later?
Is the change gradual, or is the change abrupt?
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Transition
How do conditions change as you travel from one place to another?
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Transition
Based on this map, can you predict how the scenery would change as you drive from Lansing north on US
127/I75 to Sault Ste. Marie?
What other physical changes might you see on this route?
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Transition
Based on this map, can you predict how the scenery would change as you drive from Lansing north on US
127/I75 to Sault Ste. Marie?
What other physical changes might you see on this route?
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Spatial
Hierarchy putting small places
Inside of large places
Moscow is inside Russia;
Russia is inside Eurasia.
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Spatial
Hierarchy
Is a place a part of something larger?
What smaller pieces are inside a larger piece?
Is a smaller river part of
(connected to) a larger river?
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hierarchy
How are smaller places related to larger ones?
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Put the following places in order from inside to outside.
Michigan
Ingham
County
Lansing
Midwest hierarchy
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hierarchy
How are smaller entities related to larger ones?
How do rivers and tributaries help show boundaries of watersheds?
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Spatial
Analogy identifying places in similar positions
Traverse City is to the Boardman River and Grand Traverse Bay as Saginaw is to the Saginaw River and the Saginaw Bay
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Spatial
Analogy
What features or conditions tend to occur in similar positions?
As a result, do they have other features in common?
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Analogy
Why do places with similar locations have similar characteristics?
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What do these towns have in common?
Why were they good places to put sawmills in the late 1800’s?
Analogy
Which of these 4 additional towns would also be a potential site for a sawmill in the late
1800’s?
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Spatial
Pattern noting alignments, arcs, clusters, rings, and other arrangements that are not random
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Spatial
Pattern
Are features arranged in a line or in a cluster?
Are features spread out evenly vs. randomly?
Are features spread out in a balanced way or are they unbalanced with more on one side?
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Pattern
Why are features arranged in clumps, lines or patterns?
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Pattern
Is there a pattern to the high areas of
Michigan?
Is the population pattern in Michigan spread out or clustered?
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Spatial
Association noting features that tend to occur together
(in the same places)
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Spatial
Association
What features or conditions tend to occur together?
Why do they occur together?
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Association
Why do some features usually occur together in the same places?
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Association That’s why we call it Lake
Effect Snow .
Red areas have abundant snowfall.
Are these areas associated with the
Atlantic Ocean, the
Great Lakes or the
Mississippi River?
Why do they occur together?
What else occurs in these areas?
Map showing some of the lake-effect snow areas of the United States
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Association
Why do some features usually occur together in the same places?
Earthquakes Plate Boundaries Volcanoes
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We didn’t just think up those 8 ideas over lunch one day.
They are based on a huge amount of neuroscience research
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One important conclusion from research in neuroscience and developmental psychology:
1. The human brain appears to have some specific structures that “do” each kind of spatial thinking.
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shows that old ideas about
“stages of development” (Piaget)
“cycles of learning” (Kolb)
“left brain, right brain” (Edwards) or “frames of mind” (Gardner) are just that – old ideas.
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Compare one place with another.
Find close-together places that have similar conditions.
Identify analogous places.
Assess influences that a place has on nearby places.
Notice transitions .
Do conditions change gradually or abruptly?
Describe the non-random arrangements of features.
Identify smaller sub-areas within larger areas.
Discover correlations
(features that occur together).
shows that the human brain has several “regions” that do specific kinds of spatial thinking.
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Two more conclusions from research in neuroscience and developmental psychology:
2. People are different – some people are genetically or experientially predisposed to use specific modes of spatial thinking.
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Two more conclusions from research in neuroscience and developmental psychology:
2. People are different – some people are genetically or experientially predisposed to use specific modes of spatial thinking.
3. People can learn – an expert map reader uses more different modes of spatial thinking, and uses them more effectively, than a novice.
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Remember – the “purpose” of these various modes of spatial thinking is to make it easier for us to remember facts about places.
We’ve known this for a long time.
What’s the big deal ?
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Just this – the human brain has specific “regions” that are structured to do each kind of spatial thinking.
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Scientific conclusion :
The human brain has a number of separate, independent structures that help us organize geographic information
Important take home message for educators/administrators:
There are significant individual differences
In student inclination and ability to use different modes of spatial thinking.
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Our goal is to design teaching materials that enable all students to improve all of their spatial-reasoning skills – in geography, history, economics, earth science, even reading and math.
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